Dark Phoenix
by TouGod
Summary: Harry runs away from the Dursleys' when he is just four years old. He spends a year on the streets before he is taken in by a Wizard from Knockturn Alley. He raises Harry to be a protector of the Innocent, but the Ministry doesn't exactly approve of Har
1. Chapter 1

I don't own anything but the plot and what I create, so all you lawyers can just bugger off.

_Thoughts

* * *

_

Four year old Harry wandered away from his Uncle's house covered with bruises. His Uncle had come home from the pub totally pissed. Harry had been unfortunate enough to sneeze behind his Uncle, bringing his wrath upon him. Harry had been left on the floor, crying in pain as his Aunt and Uncle went up to bed. After he had stopped crying, he made up his young mind to leave. He grabbed some spare clothes and some bread before walking out the front door.

Harry walked around during the night, having no clue where he was going. He unknowingly wandered into a bad part of Surrey. An older man grabbed him suddenly by the arm.

"Where you heading, boy?" he asked evilly, his breath reeking of alcohol. "Don't you know that bad things happen to little boys like you who going wandering around by themselves?"

"Leave me alone!" shouted Harry as he tried to pull away. The man just started laughing as he dragged Harry towards a dark building. Harry didn't know what was going to happen, but he knew that it wasn't going to be good. A pressure in his chest started building and just as he was dragged through the door, it burst.

A blinding light flared around Harry and the man who had been dragging him was thrown fifty feet into a stack of metal beams used for construction. The foundation of the building shuddered and the top of the building fell inwards, burying the man in debris. When the building started collapsing, Harry had run away from the building. He ran until he could no longer run. He slid to a stop when he tripped over a piece of uneven pavement. He crawled into an alley and found shelter in a cardboard box. He curled up on his side and slowly fell asleep.

* * *

The weeks flew by like a blur. Harry had to quickly adapt to his situation, stealing what he needed to survive and running away from the police. They had caught him once, but when they told him that they would be taking him back to the Dursley's, the wheels on the car suddenly exploded and his door busted open. After that, he had made sure to never be caught by the police again. Harry was very smart for a four year old living on the streets, quickly learning from older kids who helped him from time to time. They taught him how to steal and pick people's pockets. They also taught him how to pick locks to get to places he wasn't supposed to go. But the biggest lesson they taught him was to always look out for yourself and your friends. 

A year passes quickly when you are busy surviving on the streets, as Harry found out. He had been awoken by a couple of his friends who awoke him early on his birthday.

"Hey, Bolt, you awake?" asked Cassy, his only female friend. She was about twelve years old with dirty blond hair. She always wore her hair short, almost spiky, because it was too hard to take care of long hair when you lived on the streets.

Bolt was the name that they had given him after he had first successfully picked a man's wallet and outran him. They called him Bolt mainly because of his scar, but also because he was damn fast for a little kid. They also called him that because he never told anyone his name.

"What's up, Cass?" Harry asked cautiously. They only came to him this early when they need his help with a boost.

"Relax, Bolt, we just came to wish you a happy birthday," she told him with a smile.

"Though we certainly could use your help later on," admitted Sean, the leader of the group of runaways. He was sixteen with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail. He was always complaining about how hard it was to clean his hair, but it was all for show. He was in love with his hair and the last person to touch it without his permission ended up with his arm broken in five places. His eyes showed that he had seen a lot in his short life, and all the kids looked up to him as an older brother. "I found this little shop that has some valuable jewelry and it isn't very well guarded."

"Later, Sean," said Cody, the only black kid in the group. He was by far the best fighter in the area, even though he was only fourteen. He had already beaten all the adults who claimed to be good fighters, so when he was around, nobody wanted to mess with them. "This is Bolt's big day."

Harry felt his eyes well up with tears. Though he had gotten tougher this past year, he was still only a kid. He only faintly remembered feeling this loved. That was before he was sent to the Dursley's. "Thanks."

"Sure thing, Bolt. You may be a pain in the ass, but you are just a kid after all," said Terry, the loner of the group. He was often standoffish, rude, and mean, but Harry had managed to bring out a softer side to him. He was twelve with blond hair that seemed to hang around his face like a curtain. He had a stud earring in his right ear and a lot of scars on his body, mainly on his back. No one knew how he got them and he never talked about his past before joining up with the group.

"So what are we doing today?" asked Harry as he crawled out of the box that he had slept in. It wasn't much, but it was all that was around at the time. He stretched out his body; the cramped space in the box left him with quite a few kinks.

"We were thinking of spending the day just messing around," Sean said as he lit up a cigarette. "We don't have anything that we need to do until tonight."

"Cool."

* * *

"Are you sure this is the place, Sean?" asked Cassy nervously. This area of town always gave her the creeps. It wasn't that it was a bad part of town, quite the contrary, but there was an energy here that made her hair stand on end. 

"Yeah, the store is just around the corner," Sean replied in hushed tones.

"Do you guys feel that?" Harry asked as a tingling sensation went down his spine.

"Feel what, Bolt?" asked Cody curiously. He didn't feel anything unusual.

"I don't know. Sort of a tingling sensation, I guess," Harry whispered as they got closer to the store. He felt as if someone was watching them, but when he looked around, no one was there besides them.

"Maybe Bolt's just nervous," teased Terry as he pulled out his lock-picking tools.

Harry ignored Terry as he was indeed feeling very nervous. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to face it. "Hey, you guys see that?"

"See what?" Cassy asked as she looked at Harry.

"There's a man over there that just appeared out of thin air," Harry whispered as he kept his eyes on the strange man who was wearing a black robe with a white skull mask.

"Quiet, Bolt," Sean said from up front. "Let go guys."

The five of them forgot about the strange guy and headed towards the store. Terry quickly picked the lock while Sean disabled the alarm. Harry and Cody headed to the back where the manager's office was located. There was a small window that was opened above the door, opened just enough for Harry to slip through. Cody boosted him up and Harry wiggled through the gap and fell to the ground on the other side. He landed neatly on his feet and slid the bolt back and unlocked the door. They looked around for the safe that Sean had said was in there. Harry found a loose rug and kicked it back, revealing a trapdoor.

"Cody, over here," Harry called softly.

Cody came over, and with a grunt, opened the trapdoor. He pulled out a small flashlight that he had stolen two weeks earlier and headed down a small stairwell. Harry followed closely behind him as they walked into a small cellar that had a lot of very valuable jewels. Harry started gathering these while Cody went and started cracking a safe he had found in the corner.

Harry had just grabbed the last of the jewels when he heard a scream from the lobby of the store.

"That sounded like Cassy," Cody said in shock as he stopped unloading the safe and ran out of the cellar with Harry right behind him.

Harry slid to a stop when the two of them ran into the lobby. Cody gave him a look and back silently into the office. There were four men in black robes with white skull masks, two of them pointing sticks at Cassy. Sean was in the corner with blood flowing from a nasty cut on his forehead and Terry was being held up in the air, clutching at his throat.

"Leave my friends alone!" shouted Harry as he picked up a crowbar they had brought with them and threw it at the man in the center of the group. The man he had thrown the crowbar at just raise his stick and the crowbar stopped in mid-air and then fell to the ground.

"Potter," said one of the men as he glided forward. Harry backed up through the door, the man following him. Just as the man came through the door, Cody brought a vase down onto his head. The man collapsed to the ground and Harry and Cody rushed back out into the lobby just as one of the men shot a green beam of light at Terry. He had been running toward them with his knife raised to stab one of them. Terry got a shocked look to his face as he collapsed and slid to a stop.

Harry ran over to one of the men and started punching him. The man started laughing at Harry's attempts to hurt him. However, he stopped laughing when Cody's fist slammed into his jaw, sending him flying back. By then, Sean was back on his feet and the two of them started fighting the masked men. Harry ran over to Cassy, who had numerous cuts all over her body. Harry shook her, trying to wake her up when one of the men staggered over to him. Cody and Sean were unconscious on the ground, but so was the other man.

"It's time for you to die, Potter. And when you do, the Dark Lord will rise again!" exclaimed the man.

Just then, a bolt of red light came from the door and blasted the man into the wall. Harry looked towards where the light came from. A man with a green t-shirt and black pants holding one of those sticks came through the door. He had long black hair tied back in a ponytail and he had a scar going from above his right eye across the bridge of his nose and down his left cheek. With a quick wave of his stick, ropes shot out and bound the men tightly. He took their sticks and snapped them in half. He then turned to Harry and Cassy. He waved his stick and all her cuts healed rapidly and her eyes fluttered open.

"What happened?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," Harry told her. "Cody and I heard you screaming and when we got up here, Sean was in the corner bleeding, you were on the floor screaming, and Terry was in the air."

"We can save explanations for later, but we should get you and your friends to a safer spot. I'll send the boy's body ahead of us," the man said in a gruff voice.

"What do you mean 'his body'?"

"The blond boy is dead," the man told them.

"What? That's impossible!" shouted Harry as he ran over to where Terry was laying on the ground, his eyes still open in shock. "Terry! Terry, wake up!"

"Potter, it's too late. He's gone," the man told him as he hauled him to his feet.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Harry demanded angrily.

"Now is not the time," the man said as he grabbed a necklace and tapped it with his stick. The necklace glowed with a blue light for a few seconds before the light faded away. The man put the necklace around Terry's neck and tapped it again with his stick. The four kids were shocked when Terry's body just disappeared. The man repeated the procedure and held out the necklace for the kids to hold.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," the man told them gruffly. "Come on, hurry. The police and Aurors are on their way here right now!"

The kids hesitantly grabbed onto the necklace and felt a tugging sensation from behind their navel when the man tapped the necklace with his stick. They all fell to the ground in a dark living room. There was just enough light to see that Terry was already there, his body lying in the same position as it had in the store.

"It's true, isn't it?" Cassy said sadly as she walked over to his body. "He's actually dead."

"I'm sorry for your loss," said the man from before as he appeared with a crack. He walked to another room and returned with a pitcher and five glasses. He poured the liquid into the glasses and downed one in a single go. He sighed and sat down in one of the chairs. "Go ahead, I haven't poisoned it and I think you all need it. Even you little one."

The four of them grabbed a glass and sat down on various chairs and couches. Harry sipped the liquid and was shocked by its taste. He started coughing as what he swallowed burned his throat a little.

"Firewhisky will do that to ya," the man said with a chuckle.

"Okay, just who the hell are you?" demanded Sean angrily. Terry had been one his best-friends and he was taking his death badly.

"I'm the man who saved your lives," replied the man. "But my name is Orion. You are at my house in London."

"London? But that's impossible! We were in Surrey before," exclaimed Cody in surprise.

"How do you know who I am?" asked Harry, trying to keep his mind off of Terry's death. When he looked back at where Terry had been, he was surprised to find the space empty. "What the bloody hell?"

"My servant has moved your friend's body to another room," explained Orion as he interpreted their shocked looks. "I truly am sorry for your loss. Loosing a loved one is never easy."

"We didn't loose him," Cassy said softly, her eyes focusing on her glass. When she looked up, there was a fire in her eyes. "He was stolen from us!"

"Indeed," Orion said as he took another sipped of his firewhisky. "You were lucky that I was in the area taking care of some business or you would have all been killed. Especially you, young Potter."

"Alright, how do you know Bolt?" asked Sean in annoyance.

"There is no one in my world who does not know of the Boy-Who-Lived. He is legend," Orion told them. "You, Potter, are the Boy-Who-Lived. What do you know of your parents' death?"

"I was told that they died in a car crash," Harry told him softly.

"Ha! A car crash," said the man with a small smile. "As if a car crash could kill James Potter. You see, I knew your father at school. I was in my fourth year when he got there. He was quite the troublemaker, your father. Always causing mischief and doing pranks."

"You…you really knew my parents?" Harry asked hopefully, the others looking on in shock.

"I did, though we can talk about them later," Orion said as he poured himself another glass. "Now, what am I going to do with you three?"

"You mean four," Sean said as he narrowed his eyes.

"No, it's best if Potter stays with me. He isn't safe on the streets," Orion told them.

"We've managed to keep him safe this long," countered Cody.

"Those men who attacked were after him, not you or anything else. They want him dead, and they'll do anything to do so," Orion told them softly. He had a pained look, as if he was remembering something he wished he could forget. "You have no idea what you are up against."

"We can handle ourselves," Sean told him smugly. Without warning, Orion pulled his stick out and blasted Sean with a bright red light. Sean was thrown across the room and landed in a heap in a corner.

"Still think you can handle things, boy?" Orion asked as he took another sip of firewhisky. "That was a very simple spell, yet you have no defenses against it."

"Wait, did you say 'spell,' as in magic?" asked Cassy curiously.

"Yes, I am a Wizard," Orion told her with a small smile. "So is Harry."

"Who?"

"Him," Orion said as he pointed at Harry. "That's his first name."

"But you can't be serious," Sean protested as he stood up. He had gotten the air knocked out of him. "Bolt's no Wizard, we would have known."

"True, he isn't a Wizard yet, but he will be in the future. I can sense the magic within him, he will be a very powerful Wizard indeed," Orion told them.

"What's that stick you used on Sean?" Cody asked curiously.

"This," Orion said as he held up the stick in question, "is my wand. I use it to do most magic. I can do some magic without my wand, but generally I need my wand for magic."

"So what will become of us?" Cassy asked sadly. She had been hit hardest by Terry's death. She had started to have a crush on Terry and had been about ready to tell him. She had planned on telling him later on that night, but now she would never be able to tell him.

Orion sighed as he stood up. "Normally, I would simply erase your memory of the evening and send you home, but seeing as you have known Harry for so long, that isn't a good option. I suppose that you have two choices. You can all go home and speak of this to no one, or I can re-write your memories so that you'll have never heard of him. Either way, you're leaving."

"Like hell we are!" shouted Sean. "We aren't just going to leave him behind with someone we don't know anything about!"

"Sean, it's okay," Harry said softly. "I think we can trust him."

"Bolt?" Cody said softly. "Are you sure you want to stay? Say the word and I'll make sure we get you out of here."

"Yeah, Cody, I'm sure. He knew my parents, I believe him on that, plus he saved our lives. You guys should go back to Surrey and help the others," Harry said softly, sounding older than his five years. "I'll come back and visit from time to time."

"No way," Sean said stubbornly. "I'm not leaving you here with this psycho!"

"I assure you, Sean that Harry will be well taken care of. There are many in our world who would give anything just to see him dead. This is the safest place for him," Orion said seriously.

"Okay, but I want you to bring him by our place to visit," Sean said, referring to the abandoned warehouse that they all usually stayed at, that is unless they were too far away, like Harry had been. They all called it the Hideout.

"I'll be sure to do that," Orion told him with a slight smile. "I'm glad that he has such loyal friends. I'm sure his parents would have liked you very much, Sean."

* * *

After awhile, Orion showed Harry to where he would be staying and took the others back to the Hideout. Orion would take care of burying Terry, while the others would make a small shrine to honor his memory. 

"Harry, are you alright?" Orion asked softly. He had been passing by Harry's room when he had heard the sound of someone crying.

"It's just that so much has happened lately," Harry said while sniffing slightly. He never cried in front of someone else. That had been the first thing that had been beaten into him by the Dursley's.

"Harry," Orion said as he walked into the room. "I cannot guarantee that things will be easy or simple, in fact I can almost guarantee the opposite, but I promise you, on your parents' graves, that I will train you and take care of you until you no longer need me."

"Thank you, Mr. Orion," Harry said softly.

Orion just gave him a smile and left the room.

* * *

Over the next few years, Harry was taught by Orion in many subjects. The one thing he started out with was Martial Arts, helping the scrawny little kid get some serious muscle on him. Harry was also introduced to the world of magic. It turned out that Orion lived in a Wizard community of questionable nature, in an area known as Knockturn Alley. The Alley was actually several miles long and had many houses on the many streets that broke off of the main Alley. Harry stayed true to his word and visited his friends at least once a month and would often help them with recruiting and some boosts. However, Harry was kept busy by Orion, constantly training and learning how to harness his magic, so that he wouldn't have to wait until he was eleven to do magic. One of Harry's many gifts was that he found it quite easy to do wandless magic. Orion had given Harry one of his spare wands, one that he had made himself to practice magic. Seeing as it wasn't a Ministry made wand, the Ministry of Magic couldn't track it, which allowed Harry to practice magic without worry. 

As time went by, Harry got quite a reputation around Knockturn Alley. Under Orion's tutelage, he had become a deadly and efficient fighter. Many who thought of him as easy prey quickly found that you didn't mess with him. Harry had been given a new nickname by the citizens of the Alley: The Dagger. Harry had found early on that he was a natural with the dagger, and he always carried at least three with him at all times. When he threw a dagger, he never missed.

No one seemed to connect Harry with the Boy-Who-Lived, even though he didn't hide his scar. He actually kept his hair pulled back in a ponytail which exposed his scar on his forehead. Harry had made many friends among the people of the Alley, both Diagon and Knockturn. One man had taught Harry the art of weaponsmithing, helping Harry make his infamous daggers as well as a Celtic broadsword that Harry kept sheathed behind his back. It was enchanted to never dull or break and it could reflect or negate most spells, light and dark. Ollivander had even made Harry some wooden bracers that would act like a wand for him. Harry had helped Ollivander get rid of some Death Eaters that had tried to rob his store, for which Ollivander had made him his bracers. An old woman down in Knockturn Alley had enchanted them to be indestructible and only he could take them off.

As Harry got older, he started having different…situations. At the age of fifteen, he was already 6'1" and was very muscular. He wasn't bulky like a weight-lifter, but was lean like a gymnast or a Martial Artist. He could not go anywhere without having most of the girls in the area checking him out. At Orion's request, Harry had gone on a few dates and he was in no way 'innocent' in the matter of girls, but he was still waiting for a girl who set his soul on fire.

Harry was known as the protector of the innocent inn Knockturn Alley. If someone assaulted an innocent, they wouldn't live through the day. Harry would make sure of that! Throughout his training, he had been forced to kill to defend himself or an innocent, so he was no stranger to death. However, Harry's life changed a month after his seventeenth birthday when he was out doing his patrols through the Alley.

* * *

Harry was walking from shadow to shadow, almost invisible unless someone knew what to look for. He was walking past a side alley when he heard a girl screaming. A dagger slapped into his hand as he took off down the street, snagging an overhang and vaulting himself onto the roof. He jumped from rooftop to rooftop homing in on the girl's screams. He was very worried when her screams suddenly cut off. He zoomed in on where the screams had come from and noticed that they had come from near the entrance to Knockturn Alley. 

_Shit! Some idiot decided to see what Knockturn Alley is all about and got more than she bargained for._

Harry looked around and his blood went cold when he saw three men around a girl who was being held by a fourth man. He could see that they were thankfully taking their time. Harry dropped to the ground, alerting them to his presence. One of the men turned to tell him to go away when he caught sight of Harry's scar.

"Fuck! It's the Dagger!" he shouted as a dark spot appeared on his pants. "Run!"

"We can't! That's the only exit!" shouted another man as they searched for a way out of the alley they were in.

"You have three seconds to run," Harry told them as he held up three fingers, his eyes telling them what would happen after the count of three.

"One."

"Shit, run!"

"Two."

The three men ran out of the alley, Harry marking them with his magic as they passed him. He'd get to them later. "Three." The last man was still holding the girl, who looked absolutely terrified. Her clothes were ripped in several places, revealing her bra and a lot of skin. The scumbag holding her had his wand out and pointed at Harry. He attempted to sneer at him, but all he managed was a grimace.

"Don't move," he said in a shaking voice. "If you take a single step, I'll…I'll kill the girl." He moved his wand so that it was pressed against her throat.

"If you so much as harm another hair on her head, I'll make sure that you die a slow and extremely painful death," Harry told him as a bluish-white glow surrounded his body.

The sight scared the man so much that a wet spot appeared on his pants and a puddle formed beneath him. He moved his wand back toward Harry, but when he did, Harry threw his dagger with pinpoint accuracy. The dagger entered the man's hand between his first and second knuckles, causing him to release his grip on his wand and the girl.

The girl fell to her knees and curled into a fetal position, her eyes shut tightly. Harry's eyes narrowed and started glowing brightly, giving the area a greenish glow. He pulled out his broadsword and stalked forward, pinning the man against the wall with his magic.

"Scum like you don't deserve to live," Harry growled as he slammed his sword six inches into the wall next to the man. The man started begging for his life. He had heard rumors about what the Dagger did to those who crossed him. "Hold still!"

Harry forced the man's eyes open and sifted through his memories. Harry reeled back physically at what he found.

"You sick fuck!" exclaimed Harry in disgust. "You did that to your own daughter?" Harry pulled his sword out and with a thrust and a slash, castrated the man and lopped his head off. He placed a permanent sticking charm against the wall and pushed the body so that it would stay there. After finishing his task, Harry sheathed his sword and went over to the girl.

"Hey, it's alright," he told her soothingly. "Those men are gone now."

The girl looked up briefly and latched onto him as if her life depended upon it. She started sobbing hard into his shirt, Harry rubbing her back softly. He knew that she needed to get this out of her system. This wasn't the first almost rape that he had come across. He had stopped several girls from having such a horror forced upon them, each one acting very similar afterwards.

As she cried into his shoulder, he took the opportunity to examine her. He hadn't really looked at her before as he was busy with the scum of the Alley. She had long red hair that went down past her shoulders. He couldn't tell in the dim lighting, but he guessed that her hair was probably a deep, vibrant red. She was short, maybe 5'5" at tallest, but with curves in all the right places. She had on a school uniform that was now badly torn. Looking at the crest on her scarf that was on the ground, he saw that it was the Hogwarts crest.

_No wonder she couldn't defend herself. They don't teach the kids there how to handle themselves in an actual fight._

Harry was brought from his musings by the feeling of the girl relaxing and going limp. He looked down at her and saw that she had fallen asleep.

"What to do with you?" Harry muttered softly as he picked her up in his arms, her arms instinctively going around his shoulders. Harry sighed as he started walking towards the entrance of Knockturn Alley, the lowlifes on the street getting out of his way.

* * *

Harry winced slightly at the glaring light of the sun as he walked out of Knockturn Alley and out into Diagon Alley. He looked around to get his bearings and decided to head toward the Leaky Cauldron, where her family was hopefully staying. However, he didn't have far to go before her family found him. 

"Ginny!" shouted a middle-aged woman as she ran over to Harry. "My baby! What happened to her?"

"Bloody hell! What happened?" asked a tall, lanky boy with flaming red hair.

"I assume this is your daughter, your sister," Harry said as more red-heads came over to them. "She accidentally headed into Knockturn Alley and got lost. I heard her screams and got there in time to save her from some lowlifes intent on having their way with her. I took care of them and afterwards, she cried herself to sleep on my shoulder. I figured that she was probably here with family so I brought her back out." Harry had decided to not tell them what had really happened or who he was.

"Thank you so much," said an older man with thinning red hair. Harry recognized him as Arthur Weasley; he had run into him a couple times when he was younger. "No words can express my gratitude."

"I am just sorry that I didn't get there sooner to prevent her from having this trauma," Harry told them as he handed Ginny over to her oldest brother. He turned to leave when he was turned back around by two other red-heads, twin brothers who were shorter and had a permanent mischievous look to their eyes.

"You don't actually think that you're getting away so easily, do you?" asked the one on the right.

"After all, you saved our dear Gin-Gin. The least we could do is treat you to dinner," said the twin on the left.

Harry slipped away from them with practiced ease. "Sorry, but I really must go. Perhaps some other time." Harry disappeared with a slight pop, surprising all around him who were expecting a loud crack.

"Who was that man?" asked Bill Weasley, still in shock at seeing his little sister in such a state.

"That, Bill is a local hero known as the Dagger," Fred Weasley said with a smile.

"How do you know that?" asked Ron curiously.

"Because he saved our bacon once," George said with a smirk.

"Okay, you're going to have to explain that one to me," Ron said firmly.

"Later," said Mrs. Weasley as she led them back to the Leaky Cauldron. "We need to take care of Ginny first."

* * *

"Okay, now who is this 'Dagger' guy?" Bill asked after they had put Ginny to bed. She still hadn't woken up yet, but they wouldn't start to worry unless she slept for more than a day. 

"Well, it was about three years ago," Fred said as he poured himself and his brothers a glass of firewhisky.

"We had heard a rumor about a kid who was running around Knockturn Alley helping keep people safe," George added in as he grabbed his glass and took a sip, letting the liquid soothe his nerves. Ginny had always been very close to Fred and him and seeing her like that had cut him to the core. "But we didn't believe the rumor."

"So what did you do?" asked Ron, hanging on every word.

"What else?" laughed Fred. "We went looking for him."

"You went down into Knockturn Alley?" screeched Mrs. Weasley in shock. She had just come in to tell them to go to bed, but she had stopped to listen at the door. What she had heard shocked her. "How any times do I have to tell you to never go down there?"

"Relax, Mum, I admit it was stupid, but we're fine now," George said hastily, hoping to stop his mum before she went into one of her rants.

"Though we did get some wicked scars out of it," Fred said with a smirk.

"Fred!"

"Sorry, Mum," Fred said with a smirk, showing that he was anything but sorry.

"Anyway, we thought that we were prepared for anything," George cut in before Fred could get them in more trouble. "But we quickly found that we were anything but ready. Knockturn Alley is a dark and scary place, filled with all the lowlifes of the Wizarding world."

"We were in the process of being mugged when a kid stepped out of the shadows and threw a couple daggers at the guys who were attacking us," Fred told them, his eyes looking at a far away scene. "We were already on the ground from the beating they had given us, so we weren't in any danger of his daggers, but those guys weren't so lucky."

"I'll never forget what I saw that day," George said softly. "That kid totally tore the four guys attacking us apart. I could barely see him move at times. When he was done, the four men were dead and we felt at first that we were next."

"Yeah, the kid had a blue aura glowing around him and his eyes were shining with a bright green light. We were scared to say the least," Fred told them as he fingered a small scar on his left forearm, one of the scars he had gotten that day. "But the kid just sucked in his aura and waved his hand at us. We felt a tingle all over our bodies and our wounds sealed up. They didn't heal, they just stopped bleeding."

"That's impossible!" exclaimed Bill. "That sort of magic needs a wand in order to be cast."

"Well, after he led us out of Knockturn Alley, we did some snooping around," George said with a smile. "Do you remember the wooden bracers on that guys arms?" When they nodded he continued. "Well, apparently, Ollivander made those for him as a thank you gift for helping him with something. We were never able to find out what he helped him with, but those bracers are exactly like a wand, only much cooler."

"So he's your idol now?" Ron asked cheekily.

"Nope, just our hero," George replied with a smirk.

* * *

"Ah, Mr. Potter, how can I help you today?" asked a Goblin when he saw Harry walk through the doors to Gringott's Wizarding Bank. 

"Griphook, it's good to see you again. I just need to visit my vaults," Harry said with a small smile as he headed over to the Goblin.

"Very well, Mr. Potter," Griphook said, shifting slightly with nervousness.

"Griphook, what's wrong?" Harry asked softly, picking up on the Goblin's nervousness. Griphook slid a piece of paper across his desk so that Harry could read it.

_Shit! This is not good! How the hell did they know I was coming in today?_

Without warning, Harry bolted away from the desk just as five stunners were launched at him. Harry flipped over three more stunners and slid underneath a bludgeoning hex. He rolled to his feet and ran as fast as he could through the front doors. He ducked down a side alley and reappeared in another section of Diagon Alley.

_I need to get back home!_

Harry tried to apparate, but found that they had put up anti-apparition wards and anti-portkey wards. Harry kept running, dodging around people absently as he tried to figure out what to do. A trip jinx sent him flying, but he merely rolled with it and kept running once he was back on his feet.

"Stop, criminal!" shouted an Auror who appeared before him. Harry just leap-frogged over the man as two other Aurors sent stunner spells at him, hitting the Auror Harry had just jumped over.

Harry dived into a store just as two explosion hexes and a cutting hex hit the ground in front of him. He rolled to a stop and slid around the counter to get some cover.

"Hey, Phil," Harry said calmly, barely out of breath. He looked around the little bookstore that carried the rare and expensive books that Flourish and Blotts didn't have.

"Got into trouble again, Dagger?" Phil asked as he took cover behind his counter as no less than ten stunners and disarming spells flew through the air at them. "Who'd you piss off this time?"

"Got me," Harry said as he sneaked a look around the corner of the counter. Aurors had completely cut off the entrance of the store. Harry fired off a couple of disarming hexes, smiling as they hit their targets squarely. "Idiots."

"Harry Potter," a pompous voice called out from behind the Aurors, "throw down your wand and come out with your hands up."

Harry recognized the voice as belonging to the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Harry triangulated where he was and threw a dagger so that it would catch his hat. A girlish scream told Harry that his aim had been true.

"I didn't need to miss, Fudge," Harry called out. The only response he got was the firing of over twenty stunners. "Why are you attacking me?"

"That is privileged knowledge," Fudge's voice called back, this time less confidently.

Harry sighed and turned to Phil. "You got a backdoor out of this place?"

"Yes, but they probably have twenty Aurors guarding it. It seems they really want you this time," Phil replied with a frown. "But, I do have a trapdoor that leads across the street."

"Thanks, Phil. I owe ya one," Harry said with a smile.

"Dagger, this whole community owes you more than we can ever repay," Phil replied with his own smile. He waved his wand at a spot behind him and a trapdoor appeared. "Go on, they can't come in yet because of my wards. They have to break them and that'll take awhile."

Harry nodded and crawled over to the trapdoor, avoiding spells and hexes as he went. He threw open the door and slid down the ladder, thankful once again for his dragonhide fingerless gloves. He ran down the tunnel until he reached the end. He quickly climbed up the ladder and came out behind the Magical Menagerie.

Harry made sure no one was around before trying to apparate again.

"Shit!" he muttered as he found new wards in place.

"He's over here!" shouted an Auror who had barely heard Harry's voice.

"Here we go again," Harry muttered as he took off down the alley, dodging curses and hexes as he went.

* * *

"What in Merlin's name is going on out there?" asked Mrs. Weasley as the sounds from the chase filtered into the Leaky Cauldron. 

"I heard that Aurors finally managed to track down Sirius Black and that's who they're after right now," said a patron.

"Don't be foolish, girl," said another. "They're finally getting that vigilante 'Dagger' off the streets and into Azkaban where he belongs."

"That kind man who saved my daughter?" Mrs. Weasley said in surprise.

"Kind, my foot," scoffed the man. "He is personally responsible for at least fifty deaths in Knockturn Alley alone. Anyone who crosses him ends up dead!"

"Coming through!" shouted an older man as he fired off stunner after stunner at the young man known as Dagger.

"Leave me alone, damn it!" Harry shouted as he flowed around the bolts of red light and threw the man across the room with a well placed palm strike. Harry ducked into a booth just as five more Aurors ran into the room. A quick slash with his sword and Harry had a shield against their spells. Using the table to hide himself, Harry ran towards the Aurors, slamming them with the table.

Harry used the quick break to catch his breath. He had now been on the run for almost half-an-hour straight, using every technique he had to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.

"So, finally bitten off more than you can chew," gloated the man from before.

"Shut up, Arnold," Harry said with a glare as he sheathed his sword. "You're no saint yourself, you know."

"Aye, but I'm not the one with fifty Aurors after me," Arnold replied with a smirk.

"Fifty? I wish," Harry said with a dry laugh. "Try seventy, old man."

"What did you do to warrant seventy Aurors going after you?" Mrs. Weasley asked curiously.

"Beats me. No one will tell me what I did wrong this time," Harry told her with a shrug. He then saw that several Aurors were heading towards the pub. "Break time's over."

Harry dashed back out into the Alley and flipped over the incoming Aurors before heading down a side alley. He slipped into a door that was open and slammed it shut before placing a locking charm on it to buy himself some time. Outside, Aurors slammed against the door before trying to break his charm. Looking around, Harry saw that he was in an abandoned store. Everything had been removed, leaving Harry with a 20'x15' fighting space. Harry threw up a shield just as Aurors burst through the door, their spells bouncing off his shield as he ducked.

"We've got him now!" shouted an Auror excitedly as Harry seemed to be on the defensive. His look of glee turned to one of shock as an exploding hex hit the ceiling above them, causing the roof to cave in on them.

"Now what do I do?" Harry asked out loud as he looked for another exit.

"Just give up, my boy," a wise old voice said from a corner.

Harry whirled around, drawing his sword as he did. It was a good thing he did because he was barely able to block the stunner sent his way by the mysterious man.

"Who the hell are you?" Harry demanded, starting to get really annoyed by the constant pressure he was under.

"I'm surprised that you don't know me," the man said as he stepped into the light.

"I recognize you now," Harry said as he narrowed his eyes. "You're Albus Dumbledore, leader of the Order of the Phoenix, Supreme Mugwump, yada yada ya. You're also the last person I want to see."

"And why is that, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked sincerely.

"Because that means that I'm actually going to have to get serious about this whole matter," Harry replied as he focused on his magic. "However, I'm afraid that I can't stay and chat. Ciao."

Harry slashed with his sword, sending a wave of purple light towards Dumbledore who blocked it with a shield of his own. However, it was just a distraction as Harry ran towards a wall and proceeded to run up it just as several Aurors blasted through the debris from earlier. Harry jumped through a hole in the ceiling, landing on the roof and taking off towards Knockturn Alley, where he would be safe. He absently sheathed his sword as he ran, not wanting any accidents.

"He's on the roofs!" shouted an Auror down on the street that saw Harry jump over him.

_So much for making a clean escape._

Harry now had to dodge around spells and hexes that the Aurors were sending at him as he ran. Finally, one Auror managed to tag him with a bludgeoning hex which sent him off balance on his landing. He tripped over the side of a rooftop and tumbled to the ground below.

"Fuck, that hurts," Harry muttered as he clutched his side, where he knew he had broken a couple of ribs. Harry looked around and found that he was in the middle of the street, about fifty yards from the entrance to Knockturn Alley. He started running there, but was cut off by several Aurors who had just caught up to him.

"Alright, boys, stunners on three," one Auror said as they all leveled their wands at him.

Once they reached two, Harry sprung into action. In one fluid move, he unsheathed his sword and reflected their spells right back at them before getting hit in the back by a bludgeoning hex.

Harry rolled with his throw, minimizing the damage and getting him out of range as he came up behind a cart. Harry set his broken bones with his magic and temporarily made it so that they wouldn't break further. He pulled out a dagger and adjusted his grip on his sword before rolling out from behind the cart, throwing his dagger as he did. His dagger nailed an Auror in the leg, causing the man to fall to the ground screaming. Harry came up, slashing an Auror across the side, making sure to keep his cuts as shallow as possible. He knocked another Auror out with the pommel of his sword and summoned another to block some nasty spells sent at him. Using the flat of his sword, Harry disarmed and knocked out ten Aurors before his way was blocked by Dumbledore.

"Mr. Potter, you cannot win. Please cease this unbecoming behavior," Dumbledore said softly.

Harry gave him a lopsided grin. "If you think this is unbecoming, than you ain't seen nothing yet." Harry sent a hard mule kick behind him, catching an Auror squarely in the groin. He then leaped forward, his sword leading the way, causing Dumbledore to dodge out of the way. Harry smirked and snapped his fingers, causing the street to start to rumble.

Dumbledore looked around and was shocked to see that a giant rune had been carved into the ground by Harry and that he had fallen into his trap. Dumbledore narrowed his eyes as he drew his wand. "_Accio_ Harry Potter!"

Harry was shocked when he felt himself fly back to where he had left Dumbledore and the rest of the Ministry losers. He fell to the ground and rose quickly when he saw that he was inside his rune that he had carved.

"Shit! How the hell did that happen?" he exclaimed angrily.

"As I said before, Mr. Potter, you cannot win," Dumbledore told him smugly.

"My name is Dagger!" Harry shouted as he thrust with his sword while pulling out his last dagger. He threw his dagger at Dumbledore, who barely dodged out of the way and started a complicated series of strikes and slashes, keeping Dumbledore on the move.

"Not this time, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said as he stopped Harry from making the last cut into another rune, one that would really hurt. "_Expelliarmus_!"

Harry was too close to dodge and was caught cleanly in the chest by the spell. He flew backwards, his sword ripped from his grasp. The broadsword flipped around several times before landing tip first into the ground. At the same time, Harry summoned the dagger he had thrown earlier, nailing Dumbledore's wand arm. Harry managed to stay conscious long enough to hear the always composed and serene Headmaster of Hogwarts start swearing like a sailor.

What Dumbledore hadn't counted on was Harry's sword landing in just the right spot to finish the rune he had made earlier. The pain from the dagger he could handle, but he was afraid of what Harry's rune was going to do. The streets started to shake and fire exploded from the ground as a lower-class demon was summoned to Diagon Alley. It was one of his last ditch moves that Harry had never been forced to use before. It was one of the darkest spells he was willing to use in such a fight.

Harry's last conscious thought, was an order to the demon.

_Destroy whatever you want, just don't kill anyone. They are innocents._

The demon nodded slightly to Harry before going on a rampage, throwing fireballs everywhere and destroying everything in sight. However, not one person was even hurt.

* * *

Okay, interesting idea that just wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. So, tell me what you think. 

Love it? Hate it? Please review. Flames will be used to light my incense. (Sandalwood)


	2. Chapter 2

Still don't own anything. If you don't like Ministry bashing stories, leave while you can.

_Thoughts and Flashbacks_

* * *

Harry woke to the sound of a door slamming shut. He kept his eyes closed and feigned sleep so that anyone watching would think that he was still unconscious. Two separate footsteps could be heard walking across a small room.

"Sit him up," an all too familiar voice commanded. Harry felt a pairs of hands grab him roughly and pull him upright where he was bound by straps to the wall behind him. "_Enerverate_!"

Harry pretended to wake up, putting on a show for the idiot Minister. Honestly, the man was so incompetent it was disgusting. Harry looked around the room, instinctively looking for a means to escape.

"Where am I?" Harry asked cautiously. For all he knew, he could already be at Azkaban.

"You are in a holding cell at the Ministry of Magic. I will be your interrogator, with Auror Dawlish serving as a witness," Cornelius Fudge replied arrogantly.

"For what crimes am I being held?" demanded Harry, his eyes glowing softly.

"Y-you are under arrest for the murder of-of a Ministry official," Fudge stammered slightly, unnerved by the sight of Harry's eyes.

"I believe that I have the right to act as Mr. Potter's council," Dumbledore said from the doorway. He strode confidently across the small room. With a wave of his wand he conjured three chairs in front of Harry. He put his wand away and sat down in one of the plush chairs. Fudge sat down as well; however Dawlish didn't take the seat offered to him.

"What's your game this time, Fudge?" Harry asked with a sneer. He had been brought in before on trumped up charges, but this was the first time that Dumbledore had gotten involved. That meant that something big was in the works. "I have things I need to do. If you have nothing solid against me, let me go."

"That's just it, Potter!" exclaimed Fudge triumphantly. "This time I have something against you." Fudge then pulled a dagger out of his robes and showed it to Harry.

"Yeah? So what?" Harry said, not impressed. "There are hundreds of daggers like that floating around Knockturn Alley alone. What's it got to do with me?"

"We found this particular dagger stuck in the ribs of a Ministry official, whose body was located in Knockturn Alley," Dumbledore said serenely.

"And when we investigated the local weapon dealers, they claimed to have never sold this dagger to anyone," Fudge added.

"I repeat, so what?" Harry said as he narrowed his eyes.

"I was getting to that," snapped Fudge irritably. This boy had been a thorn in the Ministry's backside for far too long. "We compared this dagger to the one retrieved from Dumbledore's arm after he destroyed the demon you summoned and the one you threw at my hat. They are a perfect match, showing that you either bought all of them or that you made them. Admit it, boy; you've messed up for the first and last time!"

"I'll do no such thing, _Minister_!" Harry spat out. "What I do on my own property is my business."

"Just because you have claimed the Alleys as your 'turf' doesn't mean that they are your property," Fudge sneered, his face reddening with anger.

"No," Harry agreed. "But the fact that I have the deed to both Alleys makes them my property. Go ahead and check it out. I'm sure that the Records section will have updated the ownership of Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley with my name."

"That's preposterous!" sputtered Fudge.

"Whatever, Minister. The fact of the matter is that in Knockturn Alley, there are certain rules that have to be followed," Harry told him with a slight smirk. "I'm fairly certain that this official didn't do so. Just out of curiosity, was this official about fifty and heavily overweight?"

"Yes, he was, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore replied as his eyes twinkled brightly.

"So you're admitting to the crime?" Fudge gloated.

"If I recall correctly, he was in the process of trying to kill a good friend of mine when I came across him. My friend had the misfortune of bumping into the fat bastard, causing him to give him a beating," Harry told him with utter loathing in his eyes. He remembered the incident all too well.

* * *

"_Hey, leave me alone," Shouted a skinny and frail man named John as he was grabbed and thrown against a wall. He was in the process of recovering from a potion mishap and had stumbled into an overweight man heading for a pub. Apparently, the man didn't like that at all._

"_I'll teach you trash some respect for a man of my status," sneered the man. His name was Derrick Frolint. He had been kicked out of one pub already for trying to start a fight, but he wasn't going to let this little bastard get away with disrespecting him and his position._

"_Look, man, it was an accident," John said weakly, his back was in agony from being thrown against the wall._

"_What did you call me?" shouted Derrick angrily. How dare this lowlife scum talk to him like an equal! He whipped out his wand and cast a bludgeoning hex at point blank range at John's left leg. A loud crack followed closely by an excruciating scream of pain filled the air. Derrick proceeded to cast a multitude a cutting hexes, bone-crushing hexes, and several nasty curses at the injured man._

"_Please, someone help!" John shouted as he attempted to defend himself._

"_No one is going to save you, you worthless piece of trash," snarled Derrick as he lost himself in his drunken rage. He was rudely interrupted by way of a powerful bludgeoning hex hitting him squarely in the back. He flew forward and crashed painfully into some trash cans, spilling their contents all over him._

"_John, are you okay?" Harry asked him as he helped him sit up. A wave of his hand and John's labored breathing evened out. "What in the Nine Hells happened?"_

"_I had the bad luck to bump into him and then I said something that made him mad," John told him as Harry cast some numbing charms on him, relieving him of the pain temporarily._

"_Don't worry, John. After I take care of him, I'll get you to Madam Telsa for these injuries," Harry told him as he stood up, his magical aura going at full blast around him._

_By then, Derrick had managed to extricate himself from the garbage. When he saw who had hit him from behind, he grinned evilly._

"_Little boys like you shouldn't get involved with grown up things," he said as he raised his wand and cast a stunning spell. He would relish the feeling of breaking his face in with his bare fists._

_Harry didn't even move, the spell was absorbed by his aura before it could touch him. In a blur of motion, Harry rushed forward and slammed his knee hard into Derrick's groin. Derrick's face lost all color and he vomited all over himself as he fell to the ground clutching his jewels._

"_Bastard!" he managed to gasp out. "I'll kill you, and then your friend!"_

_Harry's face hardened and he levitated him so they were at eye level. He delved deeply into the man's mind, encountering some moderate resistance. However Derrick was in too much pain, plus the fact that he was drunk, and Harry was using his full power to destroy his mental shields which quickly crumbled. Harry sifted around his head, disgusted by what he found._

_Derrick was some sort of high-level Ministry person and had let that go to his head. He treated his wife and kids the same way he had treated John, only to a lesser extent. He was frequently getting drunk and making an ass of himself, but then Harry found what he was looking for. Harry always did this to see what punishment a person got. On relatively good people, he would curse them, obliviate them, and leave them lying in a ditch. From there on, his punishment got progressively worse._

_Harry finally managed to get to his core memories and found that he was personally responsible for sending over twenty innocent people to Azkaban because they threatened his power and he had even been responsible for the death of his predecessor. Delving deeper, he found that he had even helped Voldemort during the first war._

_Harry pulled out of Derrick's mind with a scowl on his face. He cast several curses on the man before taking out one of his daggers._

"_You see this?" he asked the man sharply. When Derrick nodded Harry continued. "This is the solution to all your problems. You know what to do." Harry dropped the fat slob on the ground along with the dagger. He walked back to John and helped him to his feet. "Come on, let's go."_

* * *

"So you claim that you didn't actually kill him?" Fudge asked skeptically. When Harry nodded, he scoffed in disbelief.

"What curses did you use on him?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"One made him relive every bad moment in his life. Another made it so that whatever pain he felt was increased by a factor of twenty. And the last made him extremely susceptible to suggestion," Harry said with a shrug. They were simple spells, easily found in any dark arts book. "All I did was show him the light, so to speak."

"Those are Dark spells, Dumbledore. I say that he is too far gone to be of any help to us," Fudge said pompously.

"There is always some good left in everyone, dear Cornelius," Dumbledore said with a kind smile. He turned his gaze to Harry. "Now Harry, unless you want to be charged with the murder of a high ranking official, I suggest you cooperate."

"You can't hold me in here and you know it. I acted in self defense and there isn't a force in our world that can hold me where I don't want to be." Harry said with a scoff. Harry started focusing his magic for the confrontation he felt was ahead.

"Auror Dawlish, go inform my Secretary that we will be pressing all charges against Harry James Potter," Fudge declared with a satisfied smile.

"Mr. Potter, please think about this. Do you really want to go to Azkaban?" Dumbledore said kindly.

Harry just let out a hearty laugh. "You actually think that I'm going to let you throw me into a cell in Azkaban? While you idiots were trying to intimidate me, I started the process of freeing myself," he told them with a cocky grin.

"You're bluffing," Fudge replied, brimming with overconfidence. "We have the most powerful wards in existence placed on this room, as well as ten of the best Aurors posted outside the door. There is no way in hell you can escape! Besides, you don't even have a wand."

"Fudge, you are an idiot and you always will be an idiot," Harry said softly. He looked down for a second before returning his gaze back to Fudge. A satisfied smirk was on his lips. "I haven't used a wand since I was thirteen, Fudgey. You see, I don't need a wand to do magic."

"That's impossible!" sputtered Fudge.

Harry shrugged his shoulders indifferently, allowing the straps that bound him to fall apart. While they had been talking, Harry had severed them with a low-level cutting hex. Before either Fudge or Dawlish could do anything, Harry stunned them with a wave of his hand. He frowned as he turned to the still smiling Dumbledore.

"Aren't you going to stun me as well, Mr. Potter?" Dumblledore asked, his eyes twinkling brightly.

"As a friend of mine says, 'I'm crazy, not stupid.' I can see the wards and spells that you have used to protect yourself, Dumbledore. Any spells I use against you will be reflected back upon me a hundred fold," Harry replied with a sour look. But then he smirked as a thought came to him. "However, you haven't protected yourself against physical damage."

Dumbledore paled and reached for his wand, but Harry was faster. He knocked Dumledore's wand away before he could aim and slugged him in the face. Dumbledore slumped in his seat, knocked out.

"Hmph, glass jaw," Harry muttered in disgust as he headed for the door.

* * *

Short chapter, I know. Please don't kill me. I felt that this is a good spot to stop and there will be lots more action in the next chapter.

Love it? Hate it? Please review. Flames will be used to light my incense. (Sandalwood)


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own anything but the plot and anything that I create.

* * *

Harry frowned as he dodged around yet another Ministry official, who was running down the hallway with her wand in hand. His escape hadn't been as smooth as he had hoped it would be. The ten Aurors outside his door truly were some of the best England had to offer, but Harry had prevailed in the end. However the disturbance had set off several alarms and he was forced to knock out quite a few more people in his search for his belongings. He needed to get his stuff before he could escape properly, but his weapons and other stuff were being kept in a room on the other side of the Ministry. He patted the dagger that he had taken from Fudge, silently vowing to never let one of his weapons fall into Ministry hands again. He smirked as he remembered giving Fudge a good kick in the balls before leaving. Fudge would not be happy when he woke up.

"He's over here!" shouted a young intern who nearly walked right into Harry. "Help, he's over…"

Harry cut him off with a quick stunner and slipped down a hallway that led to the stairs, hoping that no one was guarding them. Fortunately for Harry, the one person assigned to guard the stairs was someone who was willing to help him.

"Dagger!" Mr. Weasley said in shock as a figure slid to a stop a few feet away from him. Comprehension dawned on him. "So you're the criminal who escaped after 'assaulting' Fudge."

"I only stunned him," Harry replied with a shrug, subtly getting ready to stun the Weasley patriarch.

"Whoa, Dagger. No need to stun me," Mr. Weasley protested as he held his hands out in front of him in a non-threatening way. "After what you did to save my only daughter, I would help you even if you had killed Fudge. Come on, I'll take you to where they placed the things they confiscated from you."

The trip to the storage area was mostly silent. There were a couple close calls, but Mr. Weasley was able to avoid trouble with some Aurors by telling them that he was giving his son's friend a tour of the Ministry. It was when they were getting close to the room with his stuff that Harry asked a question that was burning in his head.

"Mr. Weasley, why…"

"Why am I helping you?" Mr. Weasley finished for him with a small smile. "It's quite simple Dagger, you saved my daughter from a horrible fate and I'm simply doing what I can to return the favor."

"That's it?" Harry said in slight shock.

"Dagger, my family is the most important thing in the world to me. I place them before anything else, including the Ministry," Mr. Weasley told him seriously. He then smiled softly. "By the way, my daughter would like the opportunity to thank you sometime. She is very grateful for what you did for her, especially after reading about the deaths of the four men who attacked her."

"I'll think about it," Harry told him as they stopped. Harry peeked around the corner and saw that fifteen Aurors were guarding the storage room with their wands out and ready. He turned back to Mr. Weasley. "This is where we part ways, Mr. Weasley. I really don't want you to get into trouble, so I'd better go alone."

"Alright. Take care of yourself, Dagger," Mr. Weasley said as he turned to go.

"Mr. Weasley," Harry said softly as he walked up to the older man. "My name is Harry."

Mr. Weasley smiled at the younger man and patted him softly on the shoulder before turning around and disappearing down a hallway. Harry sighed as he turned around to deal with the idiot Aurors.

* * *

The Aurors had no idea what was happening. All they had been told was that a prisoner had escaped from a holding cell and would be heading this way. Had they known who the prisoner was, they would have told the Minister where to shove his wand. They had been in the squad of Aurors that had gone after him the first time and they had no wish to do that again. So when Harry walked into view, quite a few of them panicked and started throwing as many spells at him as possible. They were caught off guard when their spells went right through his body and hit the wall behind him. 

"What the bloody hell?" one Auror said right before he was hit from behind by a stunner. The rest of the Aurors were a little too slow on the uptake and five more joined the first in slumber land.

Harry charged forward, closing the distance between him and the closest Auror in mere seconds and buried his fist in the shocked Auror's gut, knocking the wind out of him. He let that Auror drop to the ground and moved on to the next one. Spell, hexes, and curses were flying though the air at this point, so Harry took the low round and slid across the ground, flowing across the ground as if it were ice. A quick kick to the knees and two Aurors fell to the ground where they were knocked out by a follow up kick to the temple.

"Get him!" shouted an Auror, trying to get away. "He's only one man!" As the Auror turned to run, he never noticed the stunner Harry sent at him. He crumpled to the ground in a heap.

Harry spun on the ground, quickly building momentum before pushing off with his hands and going airborne, silently thanking a pair of break-dancers for teaching him how to do that maneuver. He caught two Aurors in the temples, taking them down for a little while. He spun the opposite way, halting his momentum and landed hard on the back of the Auror he had knocked the wind out of earlier, knocking him out. Harry rolled to his feet and took a look at the three remaining Aurors who took off in the opposite direction, tripping over each other in their haste to get away.

"Well that was slightly disappointing," Harry said as he walked past the fallen Aurors.

With a simple unlocking charm, Harry was in and gathering his weapons and what few items they had managed to remove from him while he was unconscious. Just as he strapped his sword to his back, the door burst open.

"POTTER! I'm going to have your head for this!" Fudge yelled as Aurors started filling the room.

"Piss off, Fudge," Harry said as he banished the Aurors out of the room and locked the door behind them. He looked around, trying to figure someway out of the mess he had gotten into. An annoyed sigh came out when he realized that there was only one way to get out of the ministry now.

Harry shrugged as he closed his eyes and his body began to shrink. His arms became wings, his feet became talons, and his head shrank while his lips turned into a beak. Within seconds, a dark red phoenix with black plumage and highlights stood where Harry had just been. He gave a soft trill as he flew into the air and disappeared in a ball of fire just as the Aurors broke through the charms on the door and flooded back into the room.

* * *

"Hey guys, look!" Cassy shouted as a red and black phoenix appeared in a flash of fire. "Bolt's back!" Cassy had grown up quite a bit, changing from a scrawny little girl to a beautiful woman with a wicked temper. She still had her hair cut short, but it was stylishly short. At twenty-four, she was entering her prime and she knew it. She and Harry were very close, always keeping in touch with each other someway or another.

Harry changed back to his human form and was immediately given a bone-crushing hug courtesy of Cassy.

"Easy, Cassandra, I need to breathe," Harry told her with a smirk. She let go of him only to punch him square in the jaw.

"How many times do I have to beat it into you to never call me that?" she asked him while giving him a death-glare. Harry just gave her a cheeky smile and healed the bruise that was already forming.

"Cheater. I never get my bruises healed," Cody said as he sauntered over to them. He had filled out a lot in the twelve years that had past. He was the main enforcer of their gang and he moonlighted as the head bouncer at a very popular nightclub in town. His biceps were bigger than Harry's head!

"That's because you can't do magic," Harry replied absently as he looked around for the missing fearless leader of their group. He spotted Sean over in the corner of the Hideout snogging a beautiful brunette who looked to be about eighteen. He turned to the others with a smirk. "Watch this," he mouthed to them.

Harry waved his hand and a bucket appeared above the couple. The two of them broke apart with screams of shock when it dumped five gallons of ice cold water on them. Sean stood up and slowly turned around with murder in his eyes when he heard his three best friends laughing their heads off. He stormed over to them and grabbed the front of Harry's shirt and brought him nose-to-nose with him.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now, Bolt," Sean growled. He was trying to be intimidating, but was failing due to all the water that was dripping off his face.

"You won't kill me because you think of me as your younger brother, as well as the fact that I know how to use magic, and Cassy would in turn kill you for killing me," Harry told him, his smirk still stuck on his face.

Sean let go of him with a snort of amusement. "I said one good reason, Bolt, not three." He then grabbed Harry in a brotherly hug, which had the added bonus of soaking Harry in the process. "It's good to see you, Bolt."

"As much as I hate to interrupt this Kodak moment," Cassy said with a smile, "I need to borrow Harry for a while."

Harry gulped nervously; she only used his real name if something was wrong. Sean and him shared a look of apprehension but Sean let go and Harry followed Cassy into the room she had claimed as her own while she was at the Hideout and not at her apartment. His nervousness grew as she shut the door behind him and leveled a serious look at him.

"Okay, what's going on?" Harry asked, wanting to get this over with. "You only use my real name if something's wrong."

Cassy sighed as she sat down on her bed, a very comfy queen size, and motioned for him to join her. Harry sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her, letting her snuggle up to him. Over the years, the two of them had dated a few times, seeing as there was a mutual attraction between them. However, nothing deeper had ever really developed so they decided to remain friends…with benefits. He was the only one that she really felt comfortable with, at least at the present time, and she would always confide in him if something was wrong.

"Harry…" she began hesitantly. "Harry, you know lots of magic, right?"

"A fair bit," Harry conceded with a slight smile. "But there's still loads that I don't know."

"Do you know any spells for…conception?" she asked softly, not daring to look up at him.

Harry's mouth dropped as his mind registered what his best friend and sometimes lover had just asked him. _She couldn't mean…no way could she want…huh?_

"Uh, I'm not quit sure I know what you mean," Harry told her, trying to get more information out of her. "I know a few anti-conception spells, as you already know."

"Yes, I know that well," Cassy said with a blush. "But can you use your magic to cause a woman to get knocked up?"

"I don't know; I've never tried," Harry replied wryly. Harry started to get a little impatient and he lifted Cassy's head to look at him. "What is it that you are getting at, Cass?"

Cassy sighed as she knew she was going to have to explain everything now. "Harry, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. I've come to the conclusion that, while I'll probably never get married, I want to have children."

Harry's jaw dropped again as she confirmed his suspicions about where this conversation was headed. "So, you want me…" he trialed off, not quite sure what exactly to say.

"I want you to give me a child, Harry," Cassy told him, her face completely red but not breaking eye contact.

Harry looked away, suddenly very embarrassed by this conversation. "I don't know, Cass. You barely make ends meet as it is with your waitress job and you've never accepted any money from me before, so how can you afford to have kids?"

"My boss has started training me to become a manager for the restaurant and I suppose I could let you get me some money now and then," Cassy told him before getting a serious look. "But remember this, Harry Potter: I can take care of myself and anyone else that comes along."

"Ok, ok, one more question though," Harry said, not wanting to get on her bad side. "Why not just ask Sean or Cody to do this?"

Cassy thought for a few minutes, having not really considered this aspect before. When she had come to the decision of wanting kids, her first thought had been to ask Harry. "Harry, I consider Sean and Cody brothers while you and I are best friends." When she saw the confused look in Harry's face, she continued. "I spent almost all of my childhood with them, while you were only a constant presence for a year until…until Terry died. After that you were only around every so often, so I never had the same bonding experiences with you that I had with Sean and Cody. We remained best friends while the others became family to me. That's why I can't ask one of them to do this."

Harry looked away for a few minutes, silently digesting all that she had said. One of his biggest regrets was that he couldn't be around more often, but that was starting to look like a good thing now. In that instant, Harry made up his mind.

"You realize that most likely the child will be magical, right?" Harry asked her softly, not turning back to face her. "That eventually you'll both be pulled into my world?"

"I know, Harry," Cassy replied just as soft. She was surprised when Harry turned back to her and his eyes were glowing slightly. Harry waved his hand over her stomach and a glow settled around her abdomen before fading away. Cassy smiled and pulled him back onto the bed, closing the distance between them.

* * *

Later on that night, the four friends met in Sean's room to hang out. Cassy was snuggled up next to Harry on a couch while Sean and Cody kicked back in their Lazy-Boy's. Ever since Harry found out that he could access his family vaults at the age of seventeen, he had spent a small fortune upgrading the Hideout. It was now filled with only the best equipment available and the game room was packed with everything from classic games to the hottest and newest ones.

"So what have I missed during my absence?" Harry asked as Cassy played with his hair. She was always in a playful mood after getting shagged.

"Not so fast, Bolt," Sean said with a small smirk. "The only time you arrive as a phoenix is when you're in trouble. So what's the deal?"

"The Minister of Magic has been trying unsuccessfully for the past year or so to get me thrown in prison," Harry explained to them with an annoyed look. "He recently decided to turn up the heat so I figured it would be best to lay low for a month or two until he found someone else to bug. Plus, he managed to capture me and I was escaping from their headquarters." He said the last part a little rushed, a slight blush of embarrassment coming to his face.

"Ah, I see," Sean said as he shared an amused look with Cody. "Well that explains everything."

"Oh, bugger off, Sean," Harry said with a huff. "But seriously, did I miss anything?"

"Not really, though there is this small gang of kids in Little Whinging that have been harassing a couple of kids from our gang," Cody said as he sipped a beer.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Harry asked as he leaned forward. He was very familiar with that area because of the Dursley's living there.

"This little punk named Dudley has a gang of about six guys who pick on anyone smaller than them and a couple of our younger members have friends that live there," Sean explained, not noticing that Harry stiffened when he said the name Dudley. "Every time they go to visit their friends, they get picked on or beat up by these punks."

"Harry? What's wrong?" Cassy asked as she had felt Harry stiffen.

"Did you say 'Dudley'? As in Dudley Dursley?" Harry asked, almost fearing the answer.

"Yeah. Why?" Sean replied curiously while brushing a stray lock of hair away from his eyes.

Harry was silent as he leaned back and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming on.

"Harry?" Cody prompted after a few minutes.

"He's my cousin," Harry replied at last, almost hesitantly.

"WHAT?" exclaimed the three friends at that little bombshell. Harry had never really talked much about his past, but they all knew that there had been a very good reason for him running away when he did.

"After my parents were murdered, I was sent to live with my Aunt and Uncle," Harry explained softly. "The only memories I have of them were of pain and suffering on my part. As soon as I could walk, they started giving me chores that would be difficult for kids twice my age, punishing me when I couldn't do them. I finally had enough when my Uncle came back from a pub and beat me for dropping a dish that was way too heavy for me to carry, even though he was the one who had forced me to pick up the plate in the first place."

"That's horrible!" Cassy exclaimed in shock and disgust at the way Harry had been treated. "It's no wonder their son has turned out so badly."

"How could anyone treat their nephew so badly?" Cody asked through clenched teeth. Whenever he heard about kids being abused, it brought up painful memories of his childhood before finding Sean and the others.

"There's more," Harry said with a scoff. "Dumbledore, one of the greatest Wizards in the world, left a note with them telling them to take care of me, to treat me as their own. Bloody wanker actually thought they would treat me nicely."

"Damn, Harry, that sucks big time. So how do you want to handle this situation with Dudley?" Sean said with a smirk.

"Personally," Harry replied with a smile that almost qualified as evil.

* * *

"Hey, get back here, you little prick!" shouted a very fat guy who looked about seventeen or maybe eighteen years old as he chased after a small boy who was about twelve. The fat one was a bully named Dudley Dursley and he had three of his friends following him as the kid led them on a merry chase around Little Whinging, Surry.

"Not a chance, you fat pig!" the kid shouted back at him as he turned a corner and found himself in a dead-end alley. He turned around to run back out, but he found the way blocked by a sweating, red faced, and breathing hard Dudley Dursley and his three goons.

"Nowhere left for you to run, brat. Now you'll find out why no one messes with Big D," Dudley told the kid while gulping down fresh air.

"I don't think so," a voice said from behind Dudley, a voice as cold as ice and sharp as steel. Dudley turned around sharply, wanting to see who was stupid enough to mess with him on his own turf. However, as he turned around, a fist connected with his jaw, sending him back a few feet and onto his butt.

"Fuck! Who the hell are you?" Dudley asked in shock as he rubbed his jaw.

"You okay, Josh?" Harry asked as he ignored Dudley's question. Josh nodded as he gave the fallen Dudley a smirk before leaving, his job done. Harry finally turned back to Dudley and his companions and his face hardened even more. "You guys have no honor or respect for others; therefore I will treat you the same in return."

"Like we care," one of Dudley's goons said with a snort. He walked up to Harry and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, revealing a small tattoo on Harry's neck that wasn't visible at first. It was a red and black phoenix that sat just above his collarbone. He let go of Harry the instant he saw the tattoo. "Holy shit! He's one of the Phoenixes!"

"You're joking…right?" Dudley asked as he started shivering in fear.

Harry's group had made quite a reputation over the past twelve years, always giving kids a second chance and helping them make something of themselves. They were ruthless to anyone who threatened them or their friends, often the result was a few dead bodies. They were based in Surry, but they had some members in London and some smaller towns across Great Britain.

Harry walked straight up to his vastly overweight cousin, a disgusted sneer on his face as he looked at what he had become. He circled him as an animal would circle its prey. "I hardly think that you recognize me, Dudley, but I remember you quite clearly. It's been, what, thirteen years since I last saw you and you've only gotten fatter and dumber," Harry said as he headed back out of the alley. He continued talking to Dudley without even turning around, "I don't suppose you remember your cousin, do you? The one that was left on your parent's doorstep when he was barely older than a year? The one that you would beat up when you were both three years old?"

Dudley's face scrunched up in thought, trying to remember something he hadn't thought of in thirteen years, something he had completely forgotten. Slowly, the wheels in his head shook off the dust and rust of disuse and started turning, and Harry could imagine a light of recognition forming in Dudley's beady little eyes. "Harry?"

"Took you long enough, you fat pig. I was starting to think you had brain damage," Harry told Dudley scathingly as he turned back around. At this, Dudley's 'friends' decided that enough was enough. They also gained confidence in that Harry was alone and they thought that they could take him.

"That's it," one of them said in irritation. He was the tallest of the group and had quite a few muscles. He stalked over to Harry and grabbed his shirt with both hands. "I don't care if you are one of the Phoenixes, no one messes with us and gets away with it."

Harry just looked down at the offending hands that were holding him and placed his right hand on the chest of the idiot who had grabbed him. He looked into the man's eyes and quickly found what he was looking for. There was a flash of light and the idiot was sent flying back down the alleyway, crashing into a dumpster filled with garbage. He slumped to the ground dead with blood coming from a gash above his left eye and from behind his head. Harry leveled a look at the other two guys who were with Dudley. "Unless you want to end up like him, I suggest you leave and never bully another kid ever again."

The two shared a quick look before the both of them ran out of the area as if the hounds of hell were chasing them. Harry watched them go before slowly turning back to his cousin. There was now a growing puddle under Dudley, and a dark spot had formed on his pants. The way that Harry had so casually taken out his strongest guy had shaken him to his very core.

"Please, I beg you, don't kill me!" Dudley cried as he fell to his knees. Harry could almost feel a slight tremor when he did, much to his amusement. "I'll do anything you want, anything at all!"

"Very well," Harry said slowly, as if reluctant to grant his request. To be honest, he had only killed the one guy to set an example and because he deserved to die. He was responsible for the rapes of over twenty girls, ranging in age from thirteen to seventeen, as well as for the deaths of his own parents so he could get the insurance money. "As of right now, Little Whinging is a part of the Phoenix gang's territory. You play by our rules or suffer the consequences. Got it?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say," Dudley nodded his head so fast he became dizzy. He shook his head to clear it and paled when he looked at Harry's face again, it had become as cold as ice again.

"As for you," Harry said with a sneer, "I have a special plan for you, _cousin_," he spat out the last word like a curse. He grabbed Dudley and hauled him to his feet. After petrifying him with magic, Harry bit his own thumb and drew a complex series of runes on Dudley's forehead with his blood. When he finished the last rune, he waved his left hand over the blood and it glowed for a few seconds before the blood was absorbed into Dudley's skin.

"What did you do?" Dudley asked after Harry released his hold on him.

"I made it impossible for you to ever hurt anyone ever again," Harry replied coolly as he healed his thumb. "Whenever you think about hurting anyone, you will feel an intense pain in your head, the worse the thought the worse the pain. If you manage to hurt someone despite the first part, you will temporarily go blind and deaf. Also, you will only be able to eat just enough to keep your body healthy, but no more. You will also be unable to tell a single lie, even if it gets you in serious trouble."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Dudley had the nerve to ask Harry before he could leave.

"Justice," was all Harry said as he disappeared with a soft pop.

* * *

Harry stayed at the Hideout for a month before he felt it was safe to return home. It was also about that time that Cassy's hormones were starting to act up and he decided he'd rather take his chances with Fudge than deal with a hormonal Cassy.

"Ah, good to be back," Harry sighed as he appeared in the home he shared with his mentor and guardian, Orion. Speaking of which…

"Harry, get your ass in here now!" Orion shouted from the living room. Harry sighed in resignation as he strolled over to where Orion had yelled from. When he got there, he broke out laughing, actually falling to the ground with tears in his eyes because he was laughing so hard. Sitting in one of the two chairs in the room was Orion, though he was no longer recognizable. Where his legs were supposed to be, he instead had a mass of tentacles, and his hands were lobster claws. His face looked like a mix between a French poodle and a human, complete with the poodle hair cut. Finally, Orion had a pair of breasts that were filling his shirt out nicely.

"Now that you've had your laugh at my expense, would you mind undoing this? I've barely eaten in the past week and I'm starving," Orion growled out, mainly because of his poodle face, but also because he was very annoyed.

"Well that's what you get for trying to go into my room," Harry said before starting to laugh again. "You should have learned the last time, but I guess you didn't."

"Ha, ha, ha," Orion said sarcastically. "Now, would you mind getting on with the reversal?"

"Sure thing, just let me get my camera," Harry said as he ran out of the room.

"NO!" Orion shouted as he tried to go after Harry, but instead found himself on the floor with a close-up view of the hardwood. "Damn!"

By the time Harry returned, Orion had managed to pull himself back into his chair, having tentacles for legs made it extremely difficult to move around at all. Harry snapped a few pictures and then hid the camera in his room so that Orion couldn't destroy the pictures. On his way out, Harry changed the wards so that Orion wouldn't be able to anticipate what would happen and when. A few minutes later, Orion was back to his normal cynical and sarcastic self.

"Thanks, Harry," Orion said dryly as he stretched his back out, resulting in a few pops as the vertebrae were moved back into place. "Now I'm going to kill you!"

* * *

After a quick fight that Orion barely managed to win, the two of them settled back into their chairs in the living room, sipping their glasses of firewhisky. Harry was about to say something when Orion beat him to it. 

"I had a visit from Headmaster Dumbledore two weeks ago at the pub. He seems to think that I know where you are," Orion said as he looked at the fireplace, absently creating a fire in it with a flick of his wand.

"What did you tell him?"

"The same thing I told him last time, and the time before that, and the time before that," Orion replied sharply. "I told him to bugger off and to leave me alone."

"Orion?" Harry asked cautiously, the only time Orion took that particular tone was when he was upset about something serious.

Orion let out a deep sigh and tossed Harry a newspaper. It was an issue of 'The Daily Prophet,' with his picture on the front page. Underneath his picture was a notice that there was a 100,000 galleon reward for his capture. Harry let out a series of the most vile curses he knew in every language that he knew, each one cursing Fudge and the Ministry in general.

"Whoa, what's got your wand in a knot?" came a voice from the entryway.

"Sirius!" Harry shouted as he got up to give his godfather a hug. When he was eleven, Orion told him about Sirius and what had happened to him. The two of them went to Azkaban to visit him, to find out the truth. At first, Harry refused to believe Sirius's side of the story, but after a few days he began to mentally put the pieces together and came up with the plan that helped Sirius to escape. After that, Sirius was on the run for a couple of years, barely staying ahead of the Ministry search teams that were after him. When Harry was thirteen, Sirius found out that Wormtail was hiding as the pet rat of the Weasley's youngest son, Ron. It had been a simple matter of sneaking into Hogwarts, grabbing the rat and portkeying to the Ministry of Magic. Wormtail was given Veritiserum and Sirius was cleared of all charges. However, even though Wormtail was under constant guard, he still managed to escape from the Ministry.

"So what's got you cursing up a storm?" Sirius asked jovally as he conjured up a nice, comfy recliner.

Harry didn't say a word, instead he did what Orion did and just tossed Sirius the newspaper. Sirius scanned the front page before his jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

"I don't believe this!" he exclaimed. "100,000 galleons for a seventeen, almost eighteen year old kid? They only offered 50,000 when I escaped."

"Stop pouting, Sirius," Orion growled out, though he was trying not to laugh. "This is really serious."

"You're just jealous because I have a girlfriend and you don't," Sirius replied with a smirk before turning serious. "This is way too much to offer for a kid, something's not right."

"Whatever it is, I plan on finding out," Harry said as he sat back down after refilling his glass.

"And just how do you plan on doing that?" Orion asked as he arched an eyebrow.

"I'm going to pay Dumbledore a little visit," Harry replied as his eyes started to glow.

* * *

_Love it? Hate it? Please review. Flames will be used to light my incense. (Sandalwood)_


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